The Konark Sun Temple in Odisha recently broke free of the iron scaffolding surrounding it after a rather lengthy restoration process. However, soon after it was unveiled, Twitter erupted in a controversy over the repair work.
A Twitter user on Monday took the to the micro-blogging site to wonder if restoration work at the temple had resulted in sculptures and motifs being replaces with plain stones.
Taking to Twitter with two comparative photos, the user (Anushka) said, "Kalapahad's soul must be satisfied today. We did it. We fulfilled his dream of breaking Konark."
"Konark then" and "Konark now" she captioned the two photos.
In a follow-up post she added that "almost each and every wall is restored like this".
"Restoration they call this. In 1st picture you can see how it must have looked like. 2nd picture is their restoration," she wrote.
"I asked one guide, he said maybe they restored it this way because it had erotic sculptures," the user added.
Three hours after posting the initial tweets, the user added a few more images and issued a clarification.
"Sculptures in 1st picture have become really rare. Now konark looks exactly like the 2nd picture especially on the back. When asked they say "zyadatar school ke bachhe aate hen, thodi murti thik nhi hena unke liye, isliye aisa restoration hua he"," she wrote.
"Just to clarify. This is NOT before and after pics as I have clearly mentioned in the 2nd thread. 2nd picture is the restoration of some other panel in the temple that must have looked like the 1st one before sandblasting. It is result of years of decay and neglect," she added in a follow-up tweet.
Following the posts, people on the social media site took umbrage, with many calling for a clarification from the Archaeological Survey of India.
As one Twitter user put it, "If true, this is criminal destruction. Can somebody please double check on this right away? This is of the utmost importance. This art belongs to the world."
"Kalapahad or Kala Pahar was a Muslim General of Bengal Sultanate under the reigning Karrani Dynasty, who is mentioned in the Mughal Empire records as the one who attacked Jagannath Puri with his army to tear down the Konark temple. Seems like ASI has indeed fulfilled his dream," wrote another user.
The Archaeological Survey of India however has rejected the post, and that of others as being "false and misleading".
"The 2 images shown in the tweet are from different locations. The image with sculptures is from Natya Mandapa while the plain stones images are from the plinth of Jagmohana (the main temple)." the organisation wrote.
They followed that up with another post: "The plain stone work shown in the image was done in mid1980s. ASI used plain stone only wherein there was no evidence left & as per ASI’s the then archaeological policy only such portions were filled with plain stones. ASI would like to confirm that no sculpture has been replaced."
The Twitter user however defended herself, pointing out that she had not said that the images were "replaced or got stolen".
Interestingly, this is not the first time these pictures have been shared. As one Twitter user pointed out, similar pictures had surfaced last year too.
In the following 2019 tweet for example, the second photo looks rather similar.
